Post by poppy on Dec 13, 2011 22:04:50 GMT -8
tuesday, october 15th – approximately 5:00 pm
She had never felt so humiliated.
Humiliated and outwitted.
She wanted to tell someone about McCauley, she really did. In fact, she spent her entire workday twirling a lock of finger around her hair as her mind remained on that one little thing. She had her suspicions for quite some time, but it was only after their encounter recently that she knew that he couldn’t be trusted. She had messed up her usual notes when people came calling twice that day, having to cross out her lines and waste time rereading letters that she had already skimmed several times. This was a mess. Surely, this was what she was supposed to be doing. It was her duty to figure out who was for or against Lord Williams, who was hiding out in their midst. Still, this was the largest dilemma she’d encountered yet. It was one thing for her to know the truth about Carlyle, it was another entirely for him to know of her true allegiances. She knew she wasn’t the most welcoming person, but she still didn’t openly advertise those she associated with.
Somehow, she had managed to get through work. Nobody had asked her if anything was wrong, the other secretaries knew better than to mess with Poppy Livingston. A scowl had situated itself on her face for the past few hours, even after she had stopped home. She just needed to sit down and think, figure this all out. She still could scarcely believe that she had allowed herself to get blackmailed into keeping someone’s secret, but she needed to keep up the ruse that she wasn’t a Death Eater. As strange as it seemed, people were not nearly as trusting once they found out those details. The woman had walked in circles around her residency before an idea dawned on her: she just needed to go for a walk. She could think things through that way, and she could just allow herself to wander.
A few moments later, she was walking down the cobblestones, her eyes tracing the ground. She hadn’t even bothered to change after work, still wearing a black shift dress and a pair of heels. She drew her tan trench coat closer to her body, folding her arms across her stomach. She turned a corner, narrowly missing someone, not muttering out any sort of apology. She slowed her pace slightly, sighing for the umpteenth time since that morning. She curled her fingers around her arms, glancing up to spot where exactly she had gotten to. She had been walking for a while and still had no idea what she was going to do. She couldn’t just blurb about McCauley’s intentions and expect that he wouldn’t be true to his word. Still, she couldn’t be found withholding information such as this. Sure, the Death Eaters knew she was one of them, but it was the others she was around that she couldn’t afford to know. It was an infuriating situation, and she was certainly not in a good mood.
Not even shopping would be able to soothe her annoyance, she knew. Normally, that might have been her first resort, purchasing something new and shiny. The thought of simply buying a new bangle left a foul taste in her mouth. It wouldn’t solve anything. Her brow creased and her coal-lined eyes narrowed as she sped up slightly. She shouldn’t have even been in town at this time, after what happened last time she was just meandering through the city. She sighed once more as her eyes slid shut and her arms fell to her sides. It wasn’t a particularly long time that her eyes were closed, just enough for her to hear someone exclaim something. Her eyes opened as she moved at the last moment to avoid them, her head following them as they kept walking. When she finally moved to face forward, she realized she had nearly run into someone else. There was barely any distance and she found herself colliding with them. “Bonta mia!” Her eyes widened as she realized it was a familiar face, her face taking on a shocked quality. “I-I… My apologies. You are Teague MacTail, correct?” She bit her lip, feigning innocence.
She could only pray she had gotten the correct name.
“I should have been looking where I was going.”